History of Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio, and incidentially historical collection pertaining to border warfare and the early settlement of the adjacent portion of the Ohio Valley, Part 78

Author: Caldwell, J. A. (John Alexander) 1n; Newton, J. H., ed; Ohio Genealogical Society. 1n
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Wheeling, W. Va. : Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 728

USA > Ohio > Jefferson County > History of Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio, and incidentially historical collection pertaining to border warfare and the early settlement of the adjacent portion of the Ohio Valley > Part 78
USA > Ohio > Belmont County > History of Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio, and incidentially historical collection pertaining to border warfare and the early settlement of the adjacent portion of the Ohio Valley > Part 78

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Between coal No. 8 c and the next seam above (No. 9) there is an interval of about 70 feet, though it seems to be as little as 40 feet at some places and as much as 85 feet at others, This inter- val is filled with a greater variety of strata than any other series of equal extent in the county. It contains the famous Parker Cement, together with a great variety of limestones, sandstones, slates and sandy shales. In the river townships it is almost en- tirely limestone : first, immediately over coal No. 8c, a bastard limestone about 40 feet in thickness ; then a thin belt of yellow limestone which readily crumbles by the action of the weather, and is interesting to geologists on account of its persistency, which makes it a good landmark ; then a thin layer of green- looking chloritic rock of fine textnre, which Mr. Potts, of York township, calls " whetstone rock ;" then another layer of lime- stone, 8 or 10 feet thick, upon which lies another thin stratum of " whetstone rock;" then two beds of limestone, aggregating 10 to 15 feet, separated by three feet of mongrel sandstone.

On the western slope this interval is quite different, as may be seen by examining Fig. 21. The heavy limestone formation be- low is replaced by an equally heavy sandstone ; while the lime- stone and cement above are much more simple in arrangement. At Flushing the whole interval is filled with a slate formation.

Coal No. 9 is a comparatively thin and unimportant seam ; but it is reported by Prof. Stevenson, of the State Survey, to be "very persistent," and "seldom less than thirty inches thick," In the Barnesville shaft it is found in its proper place, immedi- ately over the limestone series, and is two feet thick.

We pass now into the sandstone series. From this point up- wards there is more uniformity between the eastern and western slopes. While the strata of the limestone series were being de- posited, there is reason to believe that the centre of depression of the Allegheny coal basin was at some point far to the east of the Ohio river. After the formation of Coal No. 9 it appears to have changed to some point west of the Ohio, and southwest of Belmont county.

The interval between Coals No. 9 and No. 10 is sometimes as little as fifteen feet, but is often thirty-five to fitty feet, It con- sists of both sandstone and limestone.

Coal No. 10, known generally in Belmont county, as the Bad- gersburg coal," and in Guernsey and Noble counties as the "Cumberland Coal," is second in importance only to the Pitts- burgh seam, of all the coals of the Upper Measures. It is ac- cessible in those townships, where the Pittsburgh seam is not ; and hence it may be called the complement of the Pittsburgh Coal. It is very thin towards the river, but thickens up toward the south-west, until, in the Barnesville shaft it reaches a thick-

ness of 5 feet, clear. Over this seam lies an immense body of sandstone and limestone, 80 to 100 feet at the west, but thinning ont at the north-east to a few feet of shaly sandstone. Within this body, about 75 feet above Coal No. 10, in Goshen Township, lies a fine flagstone formation. Coal No. 11, the next in order, is an unimportant seam, either thin or so split up with slate or clay partings, as to be of little value, In Goshen township, where it seems to be best developed, it is usually found to be nearly 4 feet thick, with a seam of tough slate nearly a foot thick near the middle. Under it, separated from it by a few feet of sandstone, there is generally a bed of limestone which makes an excellent quicklime. Thirty-five or forty feet above Coal No. 11, in the western part of the county, lies Coal No. 12; but this interval thins out towards the north-east. It is filled mostly with a shaly sandstone. Coal No, 12 is a much thicker and better vein than No. 11. It is mined extensively and is valued highly by the farmers of the ridge sections. Above this, and separated from it by an interval of sandstone shales, of not far from 100 feet, is Coal No. 13. This seam is seen in the hilltops (generally double) as far north as Morris- town and St. Clairsville. It thickens toward the south, till, in Washington township, it reaches a thickness of six feet. Be- tween Coals No. 12 and No. 13, nearly middle way, lies a thin seam of coal, which deserves to be mentioned, principally be- cause it has been the means of misleading geoligists in their identification of the higher coals .* It is accompanied by a bed of fire-clay, and a thin stratum of very blue limestone. It is very persistent throughout the northern part of the county, and may often be detected in the southern.

Above Coal No. 13, at an interval of about 10 feet, there is a six inch seam of splint coal, which has been supposed to be the highest seam of the county ; but there is an eighteen inch seam of the Upper Barren measures, at least 250 feet higher than this ; and doubtless there are many others of like nature; but they are of little importance.

The 300 feet of barren strata above Coal No. 13, is of compara- tively little interest. It may be divided into three groups : First, the Clay Group, comprising abont one hundred feet of sandstone and clay lying upon Coal No. 13; second, the Red Shale Group, comprising about 70 feet of strata, characterized by the presence of several deposits of red clayey shale, which weathers into a sort of marl, very striking on account of its color ; and third, the Shaly Sandstone Group, comprising from fifty to two hundred feet of argillaceous sandstone, which caps the highest hills (geologically speaking) of the county.

Formation of Hills and Valleys .- At the close of the formation of the upper barren measures a new geological era begun. The crust of the earth, at the center of the depression of the great Allegheny coal basin, was broken and folded upwards into the ridges now known as the Allegheny mountains, and other ridges of the same system. Between these mountain ranges and the Cincinnati arch there was, of course, a line of lowest depression, or trough : in that trough now flows the Ohio river. It is not necessary to tell any observing person that the surface irregu- larities of Belmont county are not the work of such forces as produced the mountains east of the river. The strata of this region are nndisturbed or very slightly displaced at a few local- ities. Besides, the ridges on this side of the river are perpen- dicular to the trend of the mountains and the river; whereas, if they were due to the same cause, they would be parallel with them. The true explanation of the variations of our surface features is, that the valleys and ravines have been carved ont by the streams which flow in them, leaving portions of the strata as they were originally formed ; and these constitute the dividing ridges. The continuity of the strata, broken only by the troughs of the streams, sufficiently proves this. In a single trip from the Ohio river up one of our larger streams, one may satisfy himself on this point, not only as to the fact that the valleys are thus formed, but also that the process of erosion is going on to-day just as it has been for centuries. About two hundred and seventy-five feet above the level of the river, there will be no- ticed a broad bench or terrace on the hillside, and this will be observed to follow round the bend of the hill and continue up every stream, which flows into the river, on both sides of the valley. If the observer will climb to this terrace, he will find that its bench is a hard sandstone stratum, projecting out from the hillside. By following it up the stream, he will find that it turns every angle of the hill, and is continuous up every ravine, on both sides. A short distance up one of those precipitous ra-

*This is the seam in the cut at Burr's Mills, which Prof. Andrews mistook for the Barnesville Tunnel Seam. (No. 12) Geology, Vol. II, p. 553.

#In the excellent sections taken by Prof. Andrews along the line of the Central Ohio Railroad (Ohio Geology, Vol. II, p. 555-563, and accompanying Map XIV), this seam is called the Cumberland coal (No 10), The error arises from not making sufficient allowance for the dip of the strata. The Cumberland seam is a little below the horizon of the rail- road-bed at Lewis' Mills. It is the seam mentioned by Prof. Andrews, (p. 556) as "'the coal in the deep cut just east of Lewis' Mill."

SECTIONS OF THE ROCKS OF BELMONT COUNTY,

EASTERN SLOPE

Fig.20 (Original.)

Argillaceous Sandstone

High Limestone

Red Shale

WESTERN SLOPE Fig.21.

CARBONIFEROUS AGEN

Upper Barren Measures 13

92.02.19

Upper 11

Coal

Measures se

Lower Barren

Measures

Lower

Coal

Measures

Conglome rate

Waverly Group

Yellow Shale and Clay

1.50

150

Limestone Sandstone Coal Nº 13 Dark Shale

47.35.

Sandstone Coal Nº 12 3

42.50

Limestone Sandstone Shale e

3675

5.50

CoalNº 11

37.50

Sandstone CoalNº 10

Limestone

Sandstone CoolNog

9.50

Sandstone

Coal &c

4. 1.50

nat Definitely Known:

Sandstone Limestone Coal Nº 8 a

Limestone

Coal Nº 8

Stillwater

Morristown

MC Mahon's Centreville Creek

SEDIMENTARY ROCKS OF OHIO Fig. 18, Original.

Captina

Powhatan Pt.

Horizontal Scale, 4 Miles to 1inch.

Vertical Scale, 1000 ft.to finch.

DIAGONAL - SECTION

OF BELMONT COUNTY.

(Original) Fig. 19.

Vertical Scale 800 feet to finch. Horizontal Scale 25 Miles to finch.

Scioto

Nº2

Nº3

Nº

Muskingum

Nº5

Nog

Cincinnati Silurian

Devonian

Lower

Carboniferous

Upper (Original.) Fig. 16.

Bellaire

SECTION FROM

BELLAIRE TO CINCINNATI.

Drawn by F. R. Robjohng. 1879.

ILLUSTRATIONS FOR GEOLOGICAL ESSAY. II.

Upper

Carboniferous .

Lower

Devonian

Cormiferous Limestone

Helderberg and.

Upper Part of

Clinton

Upper

Clinton and Medina Shales

Fig.15.

Hudson. and

Trenton

Lower . Silurian

Calciferous Sandrock

Coal Nº 86 Limestone Cement Limestone

Potsdam Sandstone

NEBRASKA.

COAL FIELDS.

INDIANA.

KENTUCKY

ENVOTHOTW LAKE

WISCONSIN.

ILLINOIS

Mongrel Sandstone Limestone Chloritec Limestone Cement Rock Limestone Coal Nº8℃

MINNESOTA.

10WA

KANSAS.

Axoic

Coal Nº 13 Sandstone and Shale Coal Nº 12a Sandstone and Shale Coal Nº 12 Sandstone and Shale Coal Nº11 Sandstone Top of Shaft Clay Brown Shale Limestone and Cement Soapstone sale Coal, Nº 10 Coal Nº 9 Limestone Parker Cement Calcerous Shales

Fig 17.

LAKE ONT.

WTNEW YORK.

VINVATASNNIE

VIRGINIA

LAKE ERIE.

OHIO

ounHA

VIRGINIA.

Huron Shale

Cincinnati Group.

MISSOURI.

NORTH AMERICAN

221

HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES.

vines, he will find that the ledges of the opposite sides come to- gether into a continuous stratum, which forms a table rock, over which a cataract usually falls, Large fragments of the table- rock will probably be found strewn along the bottom of the ra- vine, some of them at considerable distances from the jutting ledge of which they once formed a part. Under the table-rock, behind the cataract, will usually be found a semi-circular cavern, formed by the crumbling and washing away, of the soft shale upon which the table rock formerly rested. The spray raised by the falling water, moistens this shale, which, drying when the water is low in summer, with alternate freezing and thaw- ing in winter, gradually wastes away, till the over-hanging rocks, nusupported, falls of its own weight, and a new waterfall it form- ed further up the stream, only to repeat the same order of events. Let our observer continue his journey up the main stream, and he will notice that the terrace approaches the bed of the creek, or rather, that the bed of the stream rises towards the terrace, till finally the two ledges unite in a continuous stratum which disap- pears beneath the creek-bed, usually forming falls or rapids. These falls or rapids are wearing back, up the stream, just as in the ravine. In this manner have been formed all our valleys, hollows and ravines. When we think of the immense masses of rock material which must have been removed in forming the hundreds of winding hollows and deep ravines of Belmont county, it seems improbable that it should have been removed in this way. But when we think, for a moment, of the thousands of little springs and rivulets at work night and day, softening, loosening, and carrying away, grain by grain ; of the air, the mosture, and the frost, disintegrating the solid rocks of the hills into soil ; of the dashing rains which carry away these soils ; of the tons of sedimentary matter which Captina, or McMahon's, or Wheeling creek, when high and muddy, must carry away in a single hour-when we think of all these, we must be led to the conclusion that the idea that our surface variations have been produced by erosion is at least rational, if not certainly true. An estimate of the amount of rock-material carried away from our area in a year, would be amazing to many, and would tend to make one wonder that he had ever doubted on this point.

ECONOMIC GEOLOGY.

No equal portion of the mile or more of sedimentary rocks of Ohio contains so great an amount of mineral wealth as the fif- teen hundred feet of'strata in which the coal-seams are included. The value of these strata depend upon their variety as well as upon the presence of coal, The strata of the Silurian and De- vonian ages furnish excellent limestones and sandstones, well adapted to all purposes for which sandstone and limestone can be used ; but there is generally so little variety in the structure of the Silurian and Devonian formation, that frequently over immense areas there is but a single kind of rock to be seen. Here, on the other hand, we have all varieties within the arca of a few square miles. We have, in Belmont county, nine seams of coal, fifteen beds of limestone, two beds of cement, and ten different sandstone formations, interlaid with numerous deposits of fire-clay, soapstone, slates, marls and shales of various kinds. In round numbers, the hills of Belmont county are made up of rock aggregating six hundred feet, of which the coal-seams ag- gregate about twenty-five feet, the liniestone strata abont two hundred feet, the sandstone and shales about three hundred, the rest consisting of fire-clays, slates, marls and soapstones. This is a showing difficult to excel in variety-hardly to be equaled, in fact, except in mountain regions, or in localities where the strata have been folded and displaced by the action of internal forces.

Value of Our Coal .-- The true value of coals must be looked for in the light of political economy, rather than from an individual standpoint, He who owns lands underlaid with stores of good coal may or may not be considered as possessing individual wealth. The personal value of his resources depends upon their accessibility, upon the amount of competition, upon the markets, and upon various other local influences. But the state or nation which is underlaid with scams of coal, such as those of Ohio, must be regarded as possessing a wealth which, if it does not out- shine, is at least far more substantial and trustworthy and pro- ductive of far more happiness and general prosperity than the

fabled " wealth of Ormus and Ind." Says Dr. Newberry, the eminent chief of our State Geological Corps, "Of all the nations of Europe England is the most powerful, because she is the rich- est. Though occupying a group of islands insignificant in area. she has spread her power over the entire globe, and it is her boast that the sun never sets on her possessions. It is well known to the political economist that the source of England's wealth has been her manufacturing industry ; and the main-spring of her industry has been her stores of coal. In this respect she enjoys a great pre-eminence over all the nations of Europe. The United Kingdoms have a coal area that has been reckoned at 10,000 square miles, while in round numbers Belgium has 500, France 2,000, Spain 4,000, and the other nations of Europe still less. The annual coal production of Great Britain is now more than 100,000,000 tons, and a very short calculation will suffice to show what an important contribution this makes to her national wealth. The power developed in the combustion of a pound of coal is reckoned by engineers as equal to 1,500,000 foot-ponnds. The power exerted by a man of ordinary strength during a day of labor is about the same ; so that a pound of coal may be re- garded as equivalent to a day's labor of a man. Hence 300 pounds will represent the labor of a man for a year. It has been estimated that 20,000,000 tons of the annual product of Great Britain is devoted to the development of motive power, and that this is equivalent to the labor of 133,000,000 of men. These men. in this calculation, are considered as exerting merely "brute force ; " but since they may all be regarded as producers only. and not consumers -the profit on the balance of her coal pro- duct fully covering all expenses-we are safe in estimating the contribution to the wealth of Great Britain by her annual coal product as equal to that of 133,000,000 of skilled operatives la- boring for her enrichment,"-(Ohio Geological Survey, 1869).

The productive coal area of Ohio is, according to the same high authority, " not less than 10,000 square miles, or quite equal to that possessed by Great Britain," while the annual pro- duction of the State was then (ten years ago) less than one- thirtieth of that of Great Britain. The United States, with a coal area fifteen times as great as that of England, and with an inexhaustible store of iron known to be unexcelled in quality, was then purchasing a large proportion of her supplies of man- ufactured iron in English markets. But these things can not always be. . The good sense of our people, assisted by that science which some have been wont to consider a tissue of idle specula- tions, has perceived our advantages, and already the tide of trade is turning. Observe the hundreds of car loads of iron ore which pass over our trunk railroads to the furnaces of the Ohio coal fields ; then notice the brands upon the new steel rails by which the railroad companies are replacing the old iron rails which were imported from England ; observe also the brands upon which some of the best grades of our new cutlery : these are the straws which show that the old current has ceased ; while there are am- ple facts and figures to show that, in the matter of manufactures, we are, at no distant day, destined to supply the old world with products as the old world has heretofore supplied ns. In this great movement Ohio is destined to take an important part, since " the coals of the Allegheny coal fields are superior to those of the west, and it is certain that nowhere can an abundant sup. ply of mineral fuel suitable for smelting the Lake Superior ores be so cheaply obtained as in Ohio."-(Newberry.) There are already two iron manufactories within the limits of Belmont county, both of which take the Lake Superior ores in their na- tive state and turn them into an excellent quality of manufac- tured iron. The following table, from the report of the Secre- tary of State (Ohio statistics, 1878) shows the part taken by Bel- mont county in the coal and iron industries. It should be re- membered, meanwhile, that "Ohio ranks as the second state in the Union in iron manufacture," (1b. 1872, p. 223), Pennsylva- nia being the first, the annual product of that state being nearly one-half of the entire product of the United States.

COAL AND IRON PRODUCTS OF OHIO,

The table on the succeeding page exhibits the amount of coal and iron ore mined in Ohio, as reported by township assessors to the county Anditors in May, 1878.

222

HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES.

Stone coal.

Iron ore.

Counties.

Bushels mined.

Tons mined.

Tons from other

states.

Tons from other

countries.

Ashland

1,000

Athens ..

9,829,991

17,000

400

Belmont

6,868,003

14,000

Carroll.

273.475

Columbiana.

9,586,660

26.410

36,000

Coshocton.

1,162,200

Cuyahoga

Gallia. ..

219,402

1,479,300

Harrison

390,165

20,758

300

160

Holmes.

242,750

32,757

Jefferson

8,641,160

10,402

Lawrence.

2,701,839

83,759

8,850 8,595

Mahoning.

7,832,880

Monroe

71,700

Morgan

251.495

Noble

157,199

Perry.

11,672,138

Portage

70,100

Scioto.

47,300

11,500

Stark

8.427,446

1,320

Summit

4,051,849

Trumbull.

11,317,481

10,021

Tuscarawas

4,437,050

Vinton

1,185,910

Washington.

216,225

Wayne ..

2,959,220

Totals

98,750,537

286,886

397,107| 160

From this table it will be seen that Belmont county ranks as seventh in the production of coal, those counties of the Lower ('oal Measures, in which Coal No. 6 outerops, ranking ahead. It will also be seen that Belmont imported for manufacture, in 1877, fourteen thousand tons of iron ore, ranking as third in this line, Columbiana being second, and Cuyahoga, first. The following table shows more clearly and specifically the present position of Belmont among the iron manufacturing counties of Ohio. Cuyahoga, containing the great rolling-mills of Cleve- land, takes the lead ; and this, notwithstanding she must import her ore from Michigan and her coal and limestone for slagging from other parts of Ohio.

Table showing the amount of rolled steel and iron produced in Ohio, as reported by Township Assessors to the county Audi- tors in May, 1878 :

Counties.

Bar and nail-rod

Nails.

Hoop-iron.

Sheet-iron.

Boiler-iron.

Spikes and rail-

Railroad rails-

All other steel.

Belmont ...

Tons. | 6,210

Tons.

Tous.

Tons.

Tous.

Tons.

Tons. Tons.

Tons.

Columbiana

17,350

2,463

3,915

17,560

42,825

35,500

Hamilton ,

3,720

6,420

Lawrence

7,50

5,000

766

384

Meigs.

1,750

193

404

879

1,789

2,010

Trumbull.

8,518

2,268

5,097

Totals.

65,125

25,967 14 414, 11,073 5,929

442 17,860 42,825 37,702

Fire Clay -Under each seam of coal there is usually a bed of tough, white, or grayish-white clay, called the under-clay. Sometimes clay of this kind is found independent of coal beds. It is from such clay that stoneware, fire-bricks, tiles and sewer pipes are manufactured, for which reason it is called "fire-clay." Beneath coals No. 3, No. 5, and No. 1, which belong to the lower measures, and consequently are not found at the surface in Bel- mont county, there are important beds of fire clay, the first of which alone "supplies the material from which stoneware, fire-

bricks, &c., are manufactured to the value of more than a million dollars per annum."-(Newberry.) None of the fire-clays of the upper measures, so far as yet known, can compare in value with those of the lower incasures ; but so little attention has, as yet, been paid to these deposits, that no definite idea can be formed of their economic valne.

Fire clay performs another important office, not usually con- sidered. Most of the rocks of our upper measures are so loose and jointed in their structure, that water falling as rain readily percolates through them, till it reaches a compact stratum not permeable, where it gathers into underground streams. These streams follow the stratum till they come to the surface, where they issue as springs, such as those with which the people of Belmont county are so familiar, and which are of such inestima- ble value to the farming interests of this region. The strata most likely to form the beds of underground streams are fire- clays: bence we generally find springs in great numbers issuing from the ground along the out-crops of a coal seam. A little observation will show that there is a strong tendency to system in the location of springs, and that a series of them along a cer- tain horizon usually indicates the presence of a bed of fire-clay .*

The coal and fire-clay strata of the upper measures are so nicely distributed. and the overlying rocks so well adapted as filters, that it would be indeed difficult to find a region better watered than our own.

Limestone .- The distribution and quantity of limestone of this region have already been noted. It remains to speak briefly of their quality. The limestones of the sandstone series, are gener- ally excellent carbonates, and make a good quality of quick- lime. Their relation to the coal seams appears to hint at some- thing of a more general use than the present limited demand for quicklime for building purposes: it suggests the use of these strata as fertilizers of the high lands; and the time may not be far distant when our upland farmers will take the hint which nature has thus broadly thrown out. Some of the strata of the limestone series are good carbonates ; but generally they are not so pure as those of the higher formations.

Cements .- The thickness and location of the cement rocks have already been pointed out. It is in these, perhaps more than in any other formations, that the peculiar advantages of Belmont county lie. The lower measures can, at present, pro- duce more coal, and can put it into market cheaper than we can do. Their fire-clays are beyond comparison with ours. "In one respect only," says Dr. Newberry, can superiority be claim- ed for the upper coal measures over the lower, and that is in their hydraulic line. In the upper coal measures, under coal No. 9, is a stratum of hydraulic limestone, from which is manu- factured a large amount of cement, proved by ample tests to be fully equal in quality to any other made in this country,"-(Ohio Geol., Vol. II, p. 158.) It is not improbable that these two beds of cement rock-the Bellaire and the Barnesville beds-may sometime become the source of an important manufacturing in- dustry in Belmont county ; for nowhere are these strata more easily accessible or of better quality.

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History of Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio, and incidentially historical collection pertaining to border warfare and the early settlement of the adjacent portion of the Ohio Valley, Part 78

Author: Caldwell, J. A. (John Alexander) 1n; Newton, J. H., ed; Ohio Genealogical Society. 1n Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Wheeling, W. Va. : Historical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 728

Author: Caldwell, J. A. (John Alexander) 1n; Newton, J. H., ed; Ohio Genealogical Society. 1n
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Wheeling, W. Va. : Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 728